diff --git a/api/IonElement.api b/api/IonElement.api
index bec2bf5..ea3992a 100644
--- a/api/IonElement.api
+++ b/api/IonElement.api
@@ -631,7 +631,8 @@ public abstract interface class com/amazon/ionelement/api/StructElement : com/am
 	public abstract fun getFields ()Ljava/util/Collection;
 	public abstract fun getOptional (Ljava/lang/String;)Lcom/amazon/ionelement/api/AnyElement;
 	public abstract fun mutableFields ()Lcom/amazon/ionelement/api/MutableStructFields;
-	public abstract fun update (Lkotlin/jvm/functions/Function1;)Lcom/amazon/ionelement/api/StructElement;
+	public abstract fun update (Ljava/util/function/Consumer;)Lcom/amazon/ionelement/api/StructElement;
+	public abstract synthetic fun update (Lkotlin/jvm/functions/Function1;)Lcom/amazon/ionelement/api/StructElement;
 	public abstract fun withAnnotations (Ljava/lang/Iterable;)Lcom/amazon/ionelement/api/StructElement;
 	public abstract fun withAnnotations ([Ljava/lang/String;)Lcom/amazon/ionelement/api/StructElement;
 	public abstract fun withMeta (Ljava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/Object;)Lcom/amazon/ionelement/api/StructElement;
diff --git a/src/com/amazon/ionelement/api/IonElement.kt b/src/com/amazon/ionelement/api/IonElement.kt
index 932d90c..e64ee33 100644
--- a/src/com/amazon/ionelement/api/IonElement.kt
+++ b/src/com/amazon/ionelement/api/IonElement.kt
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import com.amazon.ion.Decimal
 import com.amazon.ion.IonWriter
 import com.amazon.ion.Timestamp
 import java.math.BigInteger
+import java.util.function.Consumer
 
 /**
  * Represents an immutable Ion element.
@@ -446,12 +447,43 @@ public interface StructElement : ContainerElement {
     /** A mutable shallow copy of this struct's fields */
     public fun mutableFields(): MutableStructFields
 
-    /** Creates a new struct from this struct after executing the lambda body with [MutableStructFields] as the
-     * receiver.
+    /*
+     * Note about the update() functions
+     *
+     *     fun update(body: MutableStructFields.() -> Unit)
+     *
+     * This gives us an idiomatic Kotlin experience, but requires Java callers to add `return Unit.INSTANCE` to any
+     * lambda functions. Therefore, we also have:
+     *
+     *     fun update(mutator: Consumer<MutableStructFields>)
+     *
+     * This gives us an idiomatic Java experience because Java callers can now pass in a lambda function with a
+     * void return. However, it clashes with the Kotlin-specific function if you try to pass in a lambda without the
+     * enclosing curly braces. E.g.:
+     *
+     *     myStruct.update(s -> s.clearField("foo"));
+     *
+     *     Ambiguous method call. Both update (Function1<? super MutableStructFields, Unit>) in StructElement and
+     *     update(Consumer<MutableStructFields>) in StructElement match
+     *
+     * In order to solve this, the Kotlin-specific version of the function is marked with @JvmSynthetic to make it
+     * inaccessible from Java at compile time.
+     */
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new copy of this struct with the updates in [mutator] applied to the fields of the new struct.
+     *
+     * Annotations and metas are preserved.
+     */
+    @JvmSynthetic
+    public fun update(mutator: MutableStructFields.() -> Unit): StructElement
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new copy of this struct with the updates in [mutator] applied to the fields of the new struct.
      *
      * Annotations and metas are preserved.
      */
-    public fun update(body: MutableStructFields.() -> Unit): StructElement
+    public fun update(mutator: Consumer<MutableStructFields>): StructElement
 
     override fun copy(annotations: List<String>, metas: MetaContainer): StructElement
     override fun withAnnotations(vararg additionalAnnotations: String): StructElement
diff --git a/src/com/amazon/ionelement/impl/StructElementImpl.kt b/src/com/amazon/ionelement/impl/StructElementImpl.kt
index 5ae3a19..9387922 100644
--- a/src/com/amazon/ionelement/impl/StructElementImpl.kt
+++ b/src/com/amazon/ionelement/impl/StructElementImpl.kt
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import com.amazon.ion.IonWriter
 import com.amazon.ionelement.api.*
 import com.amazon.ionelement.api.PersistentMetaContainer
 import com.amazon.ionelement.api.constraintError
+import java.util.function.Consumer
 import kotlinx.collections.immutable.PersistentCollection
 import kotlinx.collections.immutable.PersistentList
 import kotlinx.collections.immutable.PersistentMap
@@ -75,9 +76,15 @@ internal class StructElementImpl(
         )
     }
 
-    override fun update(body: MutableStructFields.() -> Unit): StructElement {
+    override fun update(mutator: MutableStructFields.() -> Unit): StructElement {
         val mutableFields = mutableFields()
-        body(mutableFields)
+        mutableFields.apply(mutator)
+        return ionStructOf(mutableFields, annotations, metas)
+    }
+
+    override fun update(mutator: Consumer<MutableStructFields>): StructElement {
+        val mutableFields = mutableFields()
+        mutator.accept(mutableFields)
         return ionStructOf(mutableFields, annotations, metas)
     }
 
diff --git a/test/com/amazon/ionelement/demos/java/MutableStructFieldsDemo.java b/test/com/amazon/ionelement/demos/java/MutableStructFieldsDemo.java
index af96eb1..0c0532f 100644
--- a/test/com/amazon/ionelement/demos/java/MutableStructFieldsDemo.java
+++ b/test/com/amazon/ionelement/demos/java/MutableStructFieldsDemo.java
@@ -18,15 +18,13 @@ void createUpdatedStructFromExistingStruct() {
         StructElement expected = loadSingleElement(
                 "{name:\"Alice\",scores:{darts:100,billiards:30,pingPong:200,}}").asStruct();
 
-        StructElement updated = original.update(fields -> {
+        StructElement updated = original.update(fields ->
             fields.set("scores",
-                    original.get("scores").asStruct().update(scoreFields -> {
+                    fields.get("scores").asStruct().update(scoreFields -> {
                         scoreFields.add("pingPong", Ion.ionInt(200));
                         scoreFields.set("billiards", Ion.ionInt(30));
-                        return Unit.INSTANCE;
-                    }));
-            return Unit.INSTANCE;
-        });
+                    })
+        ));
 
         assertEquals(expected, updated);
     }