  Optical spectroscopy and photometry of SN 2006aj have been performed with the
Subaru telescope at t > 200 days after GRB060218, the X-ray Flash with which it
was associated. Strong nebular emission-lines with an expansion velocity of v ~
7,300 km/s were detected. The peaked but relatively broad [OI]6300,6363
suggests the existence of ~ 2 Msun of materials in which ~1.3 Msun is oxygen.
The core might be produced by a mildly asymmetric explosion. The spectra are
unique among SNe Ic in (1) the absence of [CaII]7291,7324 emission, and (2) a
strong emission feature at ~ 7400A, which requires ~ 0.05 Msun of
newly-synthesized 58Ni. Such a large amount of stable neutron-rich Ni strongly
indicates the formation of a neutron star. The progenitor and the explosion
energy are constrained to 18 Msun < Mms < 22 Msun and E ~ (1 - 3) 10^{51} erg,
respectively.

Astrophysics