Survivors described how large sections of concrete fell on top of cars in the Sasago tunnel.
A fire broke out and rescuers said a number of charred bodies had been seen.
The incident started at 08:00 local time (23:00 GMT Saturday), about 80km (50 miles) west of Tokyo on a road that links it to the city of Nagoya.
The tunnel is one of the longest in Japan.
'Frightened'
Pictures from closed circuit TV cameras inside the tunnel showed a section of up to 100m (328ft) that had caved in on the Tokyo-bound lanes on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi prefecture.
Thick black smoke blew out of the tunnel, hampering the rescue, which had to be suspended for several hours because a further collapse was feared.
When it resumed, the first fatalities were found.
A spokesman for Yamanashi Prefectural Police told Agence France-Presse: "A number of charred bodies were confirmed inside. The number of dead is not known."
The BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes, in Tokyo, says CCTV pictures now show rescuers moving freely over the collapsed roof sections.
He says there has already been criticism of the rescue services, which media say took three hours to reach the collapse site.
One woman who made her way out of the tunnel said she was with five other people in a van, but added: "I have no idea about what happened to the others. I don't know how many vehicles were ahead and behind ours."
A reporter for the NHK broadcaster described driving through the tunnel as it began to collapse, seeing other cars trapped and on fire. His car was badly damaged, he said.
Another survivor told the broadcaster that he saw "a concrete part of the ceiling fall off all of a sudden when I was driving inside. I saw a fire coming from a crushed car".
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