Color-color (J − H vs. H − K_s) plot for the nonsaturated candidate Miras in our sample for which measurements in the three bandpasses could be obtained (crosses). The two stars in our distance indicator sample are marked with blue circles. The shaded blue and red regions are schematic depictions of the loci occupied by Miras and SRVs in the Kerschbaum et al. (2001) and Matsunaga et al. (2009) samples, respectively. The arrow at the top of the figure indicates the reddening vector for an absolute extinction of 1 mag in K_s, assuming a D19 extinction law (see Table 4).