Static Map initialization in Java

Question

How to initialize a static Map in Java?

Method one: static initialiser 
Method two: instance initialiser (anonymous subclass) or some other method?

Please tell me the benefits and disadvantages of each.

Here is an example illustrating two methods:

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

public class Test {
    private static final Map<Integer, String> myMap = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
    static {
        myMap.put(1, "one");
        myMap.put(2, "two");
    }

    private static final Map<Integer, String> myMap2 = new HashMap<Integer, String>(){
        {
            put(1, "one");
            put(2, "two");
        }
    };
}

Answer 1

I would suggest you to use the following :

public class Test {
    private static final Map<Integer, String> MY_MAP = createMap();

    private static Map<Integer, String> createMap() {
        Map<Integer, String> result = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
        result.put(1, "one");
        result.put(2, "two");
        return Collections.unmodifiableMap(result);
    }
}

Comments

Any specific reason that the above is recommended.