を中心に【をちゅうしんに】

を中心に goes after a noun and says that noun is the core of what follows: "centered on", "mainly". The noun can be a place things spread out from, the main topic of an activity, or the person a group forms around.

With a topic, it means "mainly, though not only": the meeting dealt with the budget first and foremost, and other things came up too.

を中心に or の中心に

The を matters. のちゅうしん中心に is a plain location, "in the middle of". を中心に makes the noun the center that everything else is arranged around.

• × 駅の中心に商店街が広がっている → 駅を中心に商店街が広がっている

Usage notes

These go beyond を中心に joining two clauses.

を中心にして and を中心として

Both mean the same as を中心に. を中心として is the more formal of the two and turns up in writing and the news.

Before a noun

To describe a noun, use をちゅうしんとした中心とした or をちゅうしん中心にした.