Configure hibernate (using JPA) to store Y/N for type Boolean instead of 0/1

Hibernate has a built-in “yes_no” type that would do what you want. It maps to a CHAR(1) column in the database.

Basic mapping: <property name="some_flag" type="yes_no"/>

Annotation mapping (Hibernate extensions):

@Type(type="yes_no")
public boolean getFlag();